Ramaphosa supports establishment of SADC parliament

ANA

The president met 16 speakers of national assemblies of the SADC member states.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has expressed his support for the transformation of the Southern African Development Community Parliamentary Forum (SADC PF) into a fully fledged parliament in an effort to involve SADC parliamentarians in regional integration and development efforts.

A high-level delegation of the SADC PF, comprising speakers of national assemblies in four of the 16 SADC member states, met with the Ramaphosa at Mahlamba Ndlopfu in Pretoria on Tuesday and briefed him on the progress made in the transformation of the SADC PF into a SADC parliament.

The speakers expressed optimism going forward, with host and parliament speaker Baleka Mbete describing the meeting’s outcomes as “an accomplishment of the mandate” given by the SADC PF and a good step towards the desired outcomes of the SADC Summit of Heads of State and Government scheduled to gather in Namibia on Friday.

“I am looking forward to the outcomes of the heads of state and government summit of SADC as the culmination of many years of hard work and lobbying to reach sufficient consensus on the establishment of a SADC parliament,” said Mbete.

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